No Sense Of Panic at White House / Aides say Clinton foresaw bumps in road

Washington Post

Published 4:00 am, Monday, June 7, 1999

1999-06-07 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- President Clinton cut short a weekend of golf and relaxation last night, returning to Washington from Camp David as his aides grappled with the question of how to react to yet another abrupt turn of events in Yugoslavia -- one that appeared to threaten the military and diplomatic victory that had seemed within the president's grasp.

There was no sense of panic or despair in the White House at the news that talks between NATO and Yugoslav generals over an end to the war had collapsed, officials said last night. They noted that Clinton had predicted that there might be bumps in the road to a Serbian withdrawal from Kosovo.

Still, one official said, Clinton decided to return from Camp David last night -- instead of this morning as originally planned -- because "it's going to be a busy week."

"Frankly, people would have been surprised if this had been smooth sailing," one official said.

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At the Pentagon, spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Yugoslav officials had demanded a delay in the entry of Western peacekeeping forces that was unacceptable to NATO, which has said its troops should be allowed to enter the

province immediately and that all Yugoslav forces should be withdrawn. He declined to specify the length of the delay or to say whether it hinged on other conditions being met.

Bacon said that NATO, which continued bombing in Kosovo over the weekend and destroyed up to three dozen military vehicles and pieces of equipment, will be trying to find a way to step up the air war even further. "The talks are in suspension and the air campaign is not," Bacon said.

Leavy declined to say whether the calls indicated a heightened concern about the talks in Kosovo. "It's important to touch base with a number of the leaders about what the strategy is," he said.

ALBRIGHT HEADS TO GERMANY

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was on her way last night to a meeting in Germany with the foreign ministers of the so-called Group of Eight -- the United States, Russia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Those nations had set out the principles for a Kosovo settlement.

Albright's spokesman, James P. Rubin, told reporters on the plane to Germany that she "will continue to make diplomatic efforts with our G-8 colleagues toward a peaceful resolution of this conflict."

General Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen had said earlier yesterday that NATO's one-week deadline for withdrawal might be extended by a day or two, but they could not accept deliberate attempts at delay.

"We, in fact, want to make sure that the extra time is for good reason," Shelton said on ABC's "This Week." "(We) want to get the Kosovars back in as soon as we can."

Cohen said that in the past 24 hours, Belgrade had brought a contingent of higher-ranking three-star generals to the talks in an effort to work out details of the withdrawal.

"There's no negotiation taking place," Cohen said. "It is making sure that everybody understands exactly what must be done, so there is no misunderstanding. We don't want to find ourselves in a situation where there is confusion where they go, how they go, how fast they go."

YESTERDAY'S DEVELOPMENT:

NATO announced it will intensify its air campaign against Yugoslavia after talks intended to put the Kosovo peace plan into the action collapsed.

In Washington, U.S. officials say talks collapsed because the Yugoslavs made a proposal that would have delayed the entrance into Kosovo of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

Air Force B-12s dropped bombs on Yugoslav army positions near the Albania-Kosovo border.

Foreign ministers of the seven biggest industrial countries and Russia prepared to meet today to draft a U.N. resolution that will, among other things, set out a command ztructure for postwar security force in Kosovo.